In Honesty
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day thirty-one: Terri sees Mercedes at Sheets and Things and decides to get information from her.


_So the hiatus is over, I did my twenty-one ficlets and all... but I didn't want to stop ;) So I'm not! I want to see how long I can keep this up, one every day, so off we go :)_

_Also, some of them will be series, not related to one another but tied together by a common element. This first series I've called the "Mix Mash" series. I put the names of 18 Glee characters in a box, pulled them out in pairs, some odder than others, to write a ficlet over._

_Today: **Mix Mash 4 of 9: Terri and Mercedes**_

* * *

**"In Honesty"  
Terri & Mercedes**

"Howard Bamboo, are you serious?" Terri muttered to herself, seeing the way he'd set up a display. Now she would have to take it all down and do it over again herself. With a sigh, she started taking it apart. Every two or three things that she'd pull down, she'd shake her head with another 'seriously?'

She'd finally gotten it all down, and she got back on her feet for a moment to relax. As she turned, she spotted a young girl browsing through a shelf of sheet sets. She turned back to the gutted display and stood there for a few seconds before she realized she knew her. She was one of Will's Glee kids.

All at once, she found the desire to go speak to her, for two different reasons. First, there was Quinn and the baby. As much as they had their arrangement, she didn't know nearly as much about the new developments as she might hope. She'd already been left to scramble with the revelation that Quinn's baby – and, by extension, the baby she was supposedly carrying herself – was a girl. She didn't want to be blindsided again. The girl might know things.

She might also be aware of things between Will and the redhead interloper. Both parties would claim innocence, of course. But Terri Schuester was no fool. She knew the kind of attraction her husband could garner. Up until recently, all she'd had to deal with were silly school girls… she could handle those.

But she'd seen Will with that woman… and for the first time, she'd felt her place was threatened. She knew that all that was keeping her husband at her side was the pad under her shirt, and from what she'd seen, the two of them together… it was doing a poor job of keeping him focused on her.

So she'd dusted herself off and she'd moved to approach the girl, putting on one of her best smiles. She was looking at a package of cream-colored sheets, and Terri stopped next to her.

"Oh, you don't want those." The girl looked up.

"Mrs. Schuester? I didn't know you worked here," she frowned.

"Please, not in here. Here, you can call me Terri." Again, a frown. Terri didn't flinch, still smiling.

"Why?" Terri reached for the sheets and put them back.

"You follow me, I think we can do much better than that. What's your name again?" she continued to put on the charm, guiding her on.

"Uh… Mercedes Jones. Where are we…"

"Jones, uh? I go to a Dr. Jones for my teeth, I don't suppose…"

"No, that's my dad," she confirmed, still inexplicably trailing behind the speedy pregnant woman.

"Oh, he's a very nice man, very careful with patients," Terri praised.

"Thanks," Mercedes told her, looking to see where in the store they were headed.

"Here we are!" Terri finally stopped.

"Uh, I only have enough on me for the ones over there," she pointed.

"Oh, don't you worry about that. I'd be more than happy to give my employee discount to one of Will's kids," she gave Mercedes a winning smile.

"Wow," she blinked. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Terri smiled. After a moment, she moved in an inch. "So how's that one girl doing? Quinn, was it? The pregnant one?" she asked, absently rearranging the packages of sheets on the shelves.

"I don't really know, I mean…"

"Well you're teammates, aren't you?" Mercedes chuckled.

"Yeah, we're 'teammates,' but it's more complicated than that." Terri considered this, figuring that line of inquiry was taking her nowhere.

"Are these for you, or…" she asked, redirecting Mercedes on toward the cash registers.

"They're for the guest bedroom. My grandparents are visiting for the holidays and my Nana has… sensitive skin…"

"Oh, I understand," Terri nodded emphatically. Mercedes smirked.

"Actually, she just won't sleep in other people's sheets, even family. She brings her own to hotels, and the only way she won't bring them to our house is if there's brand new ones. We have a lot of sheets…"

"Oh…" Terri nodded. Alright, phase two. "How's that, uh… Miss Pillsbury. I met her while I was working over there," she explained, putting another big smile on her face. "She helps you kids, doesn't she?" she tilted her head.

Mercedes was getting more and more weary of what was going on right then, but for the sake of the discount and the bonus points they'd all gain with Nana for the fancier sheets, she humored her.

"Sure, I guess. Mr. Schuester helped her with dancing or something," she shrugged. Terri flinched, so she made sure to just keep looking ahead.

"Really," she spoke.

"Yeah, for her wedding, I guess."

"Well, that's nice," Terri carried on.

"Hasn't he told you about that?" Mercedes asked, and Terri looked back.

"Oh," she shrugged with a smile. "I think he's mentioned it, but I have been more tired lately, you know, with work, and the baby," she put her hand to the 'belly.'

"Yeah, Quinn gets tired, too," Mercedes nodded.

"She should rest," Terri nodded. "I know how you kids love this singing and dancing thing, but she should really take it easy."

"She does," Mercedes insisted. "Mr. Schuester makes sure of that." Terri smiled.

"Yeah, he would," she spoke with pride.

Once they got to the cash register, Terri held up her end of the bargain, giving Mercedes the employee discount. She followed along as she made her way out. "Well, hope your grandmother enjoys the new sheets."

"She'll probably try and stuff them in her suitcase when she leaves," Mercedes chuckled.

"Well, you take care now. And thank you for shopping at Sheets and Things," she tacked on to further frame the experience.

Once Mercedes was gone, so was her sales smiles, as she headed back to the display she'd left behind in turmoil, left to ponder the small bit of information she'd been given. She had hoped after everything that had happened, she'd gotten through to him. But he was still growing closer to the redhead, even as she was getting married. She didn't know how long they'd be able to keep this up.

THE END


End file.
